


about nice guys and family gatherings

by JLenon



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas, F/M, M/M, Multi, OT3, Original Character(s), Original Character: Dexter Coburn - Freeform, Stiles/Dexter, pinning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 04:37:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5443556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JLenon/pseuds/JLenon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott and Stiles are coming home for the first Christmas with their parents together. But when they decided to invite Stiles' roommate (and crush), the holiday becomes more about that than family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really happy about this, 'cause there's a long time since I finished something bigger than a few words. So to everyone that decides to read, thank you and I hope you like it. I know people don't usually go for original characters, but I just can't help it, I love them too much to not do it.

Stiles looked at the screen of his cellphone and was sure he would never finish in time. He has been waiting for this trip home for weeks now and a lot of reasons have caused that. First, it means he can wash (or make his father wash) for free all the dirty clothes he has been collecting for the last month, free being the most important word on this sentence. Second, it would be good to see his father in a relationship again, how happy he feels like that. Stiles could still remember how calmer and relaxed his father seemed when Stiles’ mom was around. It was a level of lightness he could never reach since her death.

Stiles knew it may be unfair to expect so much from this, expect it to be just how it was before. But he could still hope, he told himself. That was fair enough.

The relationship was quite surprising for Stiles and his best friend, Scott. Because they could never imagine that only a few months after college, they would end up finding that Stiles’ widowed father and Scott’s divorced mother would be dating. It was a good thing, obviously, because Scott and Stiles already considered themselves brothers years before any of that, but the prospect of that becoming somewhat true and also the fact that the parents seemed really happy together was enough for them to ignore any kind of weirdness the relationship could cause.

In time, it even began to make a lot more sense to the boys. They said it was something in the works for years and, observing how they behave and took care of each other, it was easy for Scott and Stiles to believe.

That cause for one of the best summers of their lives, because in the efforts of making it less weird for everyone, they could get anything from their parents. Overcompensating was a very important word for that summer and they took every advantage of it.

It was unnecessary, though, because the two couldn’t be happier for their parents.

He had other reasons to want to leave. Exams were one, so tiring and stressful even for a well accomplished student such as Stiles. But the bigger one was his indecision about his own future. He had a pretty clear idea of becoming a cop just like his father. He liked mysteries and puzzles and, even though the crime rate on Beacon Hills was pretty low, he always envisioned himself there, with his father, making everybody save.

However, college is there to give you not only knowledge, but perspective, to show you the world you somehow ignored or never knew before and Stiles got that. He knew so many people, so many fascinating things and suddenly his resolve about the future wasn’t so resolved anymore. Maybe that trip home would remind him of why he always wanted to be a cop.

            Trying not to freak out about his future, Stiles decided to focus on the task at hand. He got back at putting clothes on plastic bags when he hears the door of his room open and Dexter, his roommate, get in. The guy did a dramatic sigh of relieve, threw his backpack on the floor and his own body on the bed.

            “No more exams?” Stiles asked with a lazy smile after watching the performance.

            “No more exams.” Dexter repeated happily, almost singing the words. “I’m telling you, this gets worst at every new test, and those teachers must think our lives are all about studying. I mean, it took me at least an hour to even understand the questions today, let alone answer it. And the professor said that he would send the grades on Christmas Eve so we could use the week to prepare for when we came back.”

            “Like he is gonna spend his holiday grading exams...”

            “Oh, he will, because he’s a sadistic jerk.” He sits on the bed. “And I wouldn’t even be surprised if he delayed sending the grades just to make people more paranoid and not enjoy Christmas. But I’m gonna break him, because I’m spending Christmas here and he won’t be able to destroy it.” He pointed to his bed and since his notebook was close to it, Stiles could get the picture of his plans.

            “What are you talking about?” Stiles stopped with the clothes to talk to Dexter and also because he was getting quite bored with it. “I thought you were going to Chile with your father.”

            “I was, but then he got a better offer and decided to take secret lover number 3 on my place.” Dexter shrugged trying to hide his disappointment. Even though he and Stiles were only roommates for a couple of months, Stiles could see how much his relationship with his father was a tough thing for him. The clichéd story of a well accomplished author who doesn’t have time for his family and leaves his son to grow up by himself, since his mother is dead. Those are the moments Stiles realizes how lucky he is about his father and how Dexter got the short end of the stick.

            Not that Stiles paid too much attention about Dexter’s life. Not at all.

            “He said that?” Stiles sat too, looking kindly at Dexter.

            “May as well. He said his agent is pressing him to a new deadline for this first draft he is working on. So he says he has to concentrate on that until the end of the year, which is said deadline.”

            “Well, that’s plausible.” Stiles tried to play devil’s advocate. “I mean, he hasn’t published anything in two years.”

            “Yes, but when I called his assistant to get the flight information to go by myself, she came up with some lame excuse about the flight being cancelled, which I saw on the company’s website it wasn’t. She is probably the one going with him. Now everyone is going home and the best I can do is stay here with Netflix, books and the phone number of some local students if I get too lonely. Or horny.”

            “Dude, that’s very depressing.” They heard Scott’s voice from the door, his face showing how bad he felt for Dexter. “Christmas is not a holiday for you to spend alone!”

            “Dude, it’s okay. I’ve spend Christmas with my dad, it’s not that much better. He drinks, he goes away in the middle of the night and sometimes I have to bail him out of jail. That way I can finish Prison Break before they decide to do another season of it.”

            “They did decided to do another season.” Stiles said.

            “What? Don’t any show stay dead anymore?”

            “I thought you liked it.” Scott said.

            “I do. But I do like new shows too, you know? Also, haven’t we talked about you showing up and listening to other people’s conversations?”

            “We did...” Scott looked to the ground, mildly embarrassed. Then he turned to Dexter again. “But, like, you were having a moment and talking about your feelings and stuff.”

            “I was not.” Dexter said. “I was just informing him of my plans for the next two weeks, it was like a report on the news, no feelings involved.”

            “You don’t have to be this emotionally constipated, Dexter. We’ll still think of you as a bro even if you open your heart to us.” Stiles mocked him and received a pen launched at his direction.

            “Shut up. That’s why you don’t have friends, you are the only ones who can bear each other.”

            “Well, you are doing a good job living with me and not murdering me on my sleep. Some would even say you are our friend. Which gives me this great idea, you should come with us!” Stiles said as soon as the idea popped in his head and the broad smile across Scott’s face showed how much he agreed with it.

            “No way.”

            “Yes way!” Scott exclaimed. “We are gonna have a lot of food, awkward mom and Stiles’ dad doing anything we want, and you are such a better drinking buddy than Stiles, he gets drunk too fast and then becomes quite handy...”

            “I don’t get that handy.” Stiles said, defensibly. “But yes, it’s gonna be cool and it won’t make us feel bad about leaving you here by your sorry self.” He walked to Dexter and put a hand on his shoulder. “Look, it’s a couple of weeks, food and living arrangements for free, two of your best college buddies that you know for four months tops, I would be very offended if you refused such an amazing offer.”

            “My mom too because I’m already texting her about you coming.” Scott threatened, phone at hand. “And you don’t want to upset mom. She is gonna track you down and make you pay.”

            “She will.” Stiles nodded aggressively before going to the small dresser sitting on the side of Dexter’s bed. “I can help you pack?”

            Dexter thought about it, weighing his options. He knew the invite came out of pity about his situation, even though it wasn’t as bad as they were making it out to be. However, he was a child of a slightly broken home and there were this obligatory rule where kids like that had to love family gatherings. Or at least other people’s family gathering. Who was he to break out this tradition?

            He stood up and placed a hand on Stiles chest, pushing him away from his clothes. “You can barely pack for yourself, this is a mess.” He looked at Stiles’ bed where all his things were spread and the plastic bags were open and about to rip with the excess of dirty clothes. “You sure it’s not a problem? That your parents won’t mind?”

            “Of course not.” Scott guaranteed. “I think they’ll actually be happy, at least it’s prove that we talk to other people around here.”

            “They have this misconception that we can only be friends with each other, which is crazy because spending 80% of your time with a person doesn’t necessarily mean you can only talk to them.”

            “Of course not. That’s why half of the time you are talking to me, you are referring to something that happened when you were with Scott and forgot I wasn’t actually there.” Dexter nods with a smirk. “You are like freakish dumb and dumber movies close. I wonder if people don’t think you guys have like a thing.”

            “What you mean a thing?” Scott asked, helping Dexter get his suitcase from under his bed.

            “I don’t know, like you guys are boyfriends or something...” He said casually getting some underwear and throwing it in the bed. Because he wasn’t fishing for information. Dexter would never do that.

            “Who would think that, though? I mean, Scott is straight.” Stiles shrugged. “Unless something changed in the last few hours.”

            “Still straight, I guess...” Scott satin the bed and tries to organize the stuff Dexter is throwing on it. “Last time I checked.”

            “And I never fucked any guy around here, so I don’t think people know I’m bi.”

            Dexter stopped and looked at Scott with a big grin before turning back to Stiles. “People know you are bi.”

            “Oh, yeah, they do.” Scott agreed.

            “What does that mean?”

            “You try to flirt with every guy who talks to you.” Scott said.

            “And fails miserably.” Dexter completed.

            “You guys are crazy, I don’t flirt with random guys and, if I did, I wouldn’t fail. I’m a great flirt! I’m all wit talk, sarcastic smiles and second hand embarrassment.”

            “Key ingredients to a horn dog on college, of course.” Dexter got back to his things. “You know, I can teach you a thing or two once we get to Beacon Hills. Unless you already screwed everyone there.”

            “Not on this lifetime.” Stiles said. “I don’t exactly have a big resume when it comes to dating, to be honest.”

            “Malia is really hot, Stiles. And you dated her for most of high school.”

            “Yeah, but it was more like she dated me and I was just there. Don’t get me wrong, she was amazing and I definitely enjoyed the time we had together, but she had this, I don’t know, alpha female attitude. I mean, I was the small spoon, for God’s sake.”

            “Oh, there is nothing wrong with being the small spoon. It takes you a little longer to finish, but faster is not always the best. I mean, it’s better than controlling guys who think you’ll do whatever they want just because they say. You wanna be with me, be with me, not with the version you demand me to be.”

            “Exactly. Kira was like that, she was like so sweet and funny and really liked me for what I was.”

            “Not just the abs?”

            “Dex, I didn’t have much abs on high school. I was the shy kid who sat on the corner with his inhaler and his best friend. Then I got into swimming and it helped my breathing and self-esteem and got me this scholarship.”

            “Well, swimming did you pretty good, because your abs now are amazing. If you ever think you are not as straight as you claim to be, make sure to let me know and we can find out for sure.”

            Scott laughed half embarrassed, half amused. “I’ll make sure to remember that. What we also ought to remember is that we should leave in five minutes or we are gonna get there in the middle of the night. Mom got the day off because she wants to have dinner with us.”

            “Why?” Dexter asked confused.

            “Because she misses us, probably.” Stiles suggested. “Or maybe she is pregnant. With twins! And they will be half Hispanic and half Irish.”

            “That would actually make beautiful babies. You would be a crap brother, though.”

            “That’s not truth. And it’s a little hurtful.”

            “Scott, though, he would be a great brother.”

            “Yeah, I would.” Scott put such a big smile on, it was hard for the other two not to smile with him. “Now I hope she is pregnant.”

 

 

Once they finally got themselves together, they were able to finishing packing and get to the parking lot in a manageable time to arrive at Beacon Hills. The problem was the other challenge they found.

            “I’m sorry, I’m not spending six plus hours on this jeep that’s really falling apart.” Dexter said with enough conviction to show Scott that it would take a while.

            “Man, what are you talking about? Why are you being so mean to my jeep? He didn’t do anything against you!” Stiles complained, suddenly feeling an urge to pet the car, which only made Dexter more annoyed.

            “This is ridiculous, you know this can stop, like, any minute. It’ll probably fall over your feet right now with you touching it.”

            “Well, just so you know, this jeep brought me and Scott here like six times already.”

            “That’s a lie and you know it. Last time I had to rescue you guys in the middle of town and leave my date behind.”

            “Someone texting you ‘sup?’ is not a date, Dex, come on.”

            “Better than be stranded in the middle of the road like you guys were. And now there are three people, with luggage and your five bags of dirty clothes.”

            “Oh, now you have a problem with my clothes too?”

            “If they didn’t smell as much maybe I...”

            “Oh, shut up both of you!” Scott yelled and that was so surprising that they actually obeyed. “This is the silliest thing I have ever heard and I’m too hungry for this shit. We are taking Dexter’s car and don’t even start with me, Stiles, because I’ll not push this car until it works again. He has more money to pay for gas and we can eat burgers in the back seat, which we’ll buy right now because I’m freaking hungry! Can we go now?”

            Stiles and Dexter looked at each other, Stiles very annoyed with it and Dexter with a very small and discreet smile of victory. However, both of them turned to Scott at the same time to complain again.

            “No reason to be this rude.” Dexter said before walking towards his car.

            “Yeah, maybe you need to chill a little, you are too stressed. Is that because you don’t have sex in months or...”

            “Please, let’s just go and get something to eat?”

 

 

There was a lot of looking at phones and muttering before they found a place to eat. However, after some fries, burgers and milkshakes, the whole drama about the car was gone and they were back at teasing each other and talking about dumb stuff.

            Dexter was driving first, since it was his car, and he had to make a pretty conscious effort not to ridiculously smile the whole way through. He was pretty resigned about having a lame and lonely Christmas working on the never ending list of movies and TV shows college kept him from watching, but having not only company but a family Christmas? That was more than he could expect. Especially with Scott and Stiles, who somehow managed to go through all the cynicism layers he put around himself and actually became friends he cared about. That was the most surprising thing for sure, Dexter actually caring about the silly roommate and the guy that never left his side.

            At his side, Stiles was actually kind of over not using the jeep, because man, Dexter’s car was so comfortable, he planned on moving there once Dexter got distracted. He kind of envied Scott who, after eating too much, snuggled in the back seat and was adorably sleeping with his mouth open.

            He was also really excited about having Dexter at his house. He talked a lot about Beacon Hills with Dexter. They actually talked a lot. It wasn’t that unusual for Scott to have homework or swimming training, leaving Stiles at his own devices. That didn’t happen much in high school, where they were almost connected to the hip, so Stiles would be in his room trying to study or just looking to the wall until Dexter notice it and inquire what was going on now. From there they would talk about anything from relationships to childhood memories and suddenly Stiles wasn’t that overwhelmed about how much things changed.

            Without realizing, Stiles made the one thing John hammered so much before he left home, he made new friends. The problem was, he maybe didn’t want to be just friends?

            The realization came a few days ago when he saw Dexter hooking up with Scott’s roommate. Jackson was an asshole and at first Stiles was just disgusted at how bad Dexter’s taste for guys was. Because really, from all the people in the world, ‘I’m too good for this college and I’m only here because I would be expelled from anywhere else’ Jackson was a sad choice. But after a two hours rant and Scott begging him to just go and ask Dexter out, Stiles accepted the truth. He was a living cliché that has a crush for his roommate. A roommate that doesn’t show any interest, whatsoever. Why does he keep doing it to himself? Didn’t Lydia Martin broke him enough?

            “What you thinking over there?” He heard Dexter after a few minutes of deep thought.

            “What? Nothing.” He lied. “It’s just nice to go home.”

            Dexter smiled, but didn’t say anything, leaving Stiles to wonder. For what he heard of Dexter’s childhood, he didn’t have much of a home after his mother died. His father decided to take a lot of trips to do research for his books and Dexter always went with him. It made for great and wild histories of dancers in Spain or beaches in Australia, but not much family stuff.

            Stiles could see a little white envy on Dexter every time he talked about his relationship with the Sheriff, or even Scott with his mom. God, that was probably why he didn’t mind spending time with jerk Jackson, they were both damaged when it comes to family. It was a shame Stiles couldn’t do much to help. Maybe he couldn’t fix Dexter family, but giving him a traditional, boring family Christmas would be enough for now.

            “I’m getting kind of excited to see where you guys grew up, honestly.” Dexter said. “I mean, I’m pretty sure you guys spent most of your times in each other's bedrooms...”

            “There were a lot of video-games tournaments.” Scott said proudly, apparently waking up from his nap.

            “Yeah, I figured. But like, your rooms and books and stuff, your parents.”

            “My mom is gonna love you, especially once she find out you want to be a doctor. ’Cause like, I’m pretty sure she wanted me to be a doctor, even though she never told me anything because she didn’t want to influence my decision.”

            “She must be happy with what you are thinking, though. You just like animals more than humans.”

            “I don’t think every vet likes animals more than humans.” Stiles shrugged. “You certainly don’t like humans more than animals.”

            “That’s because some humans are annoying. I don’t have to be a people person to be a doctor. I can help people without particularly liking them. I can do a lot of stuff without liking people...”

            “Which explain why you hook up so many times with Jackson.” Scott mocked and Dexter wanted to bury his head in the ground.

            “Oh, please, you can’t judge me for what I do when I’m drunk. I felt ashamed enough when I woke up.”

            “And then slept with him again.” Stiles rolled his eyes.

            “Just leave me with my mistakes.” He dismissed them, but the need to explain himself was bigger. “It’s just, he is always up for it and sometimes I just have, like, a million things to study and essays and everything, I just want a quick thing and be gone. He is practically a walking dildo.”

            “That’s very edifying.” Stiles said annoyed. Not really annoyed because he had no reason to be annoyed. Just... annoyed.

            “Well, he has enough self-esteem to survive it. And it’s not like he’s not enjoying it too, I mean, he did...”

            “Oh, dude, I don’t wanna hear with Jackson did when you hook up with him.” Scott stopped him. “Nobody deserves that mental image. It’s enough I have to live with him and hear him masturbate any other day.”

            “Oh.” Dexter frowned. “Stiles is a more considerate roommate, I guess. Thank you, buddy.” He taps on Stiles leg and squeeze just a little, turning back to Scott again. “So, are we staying on your house or Stiles’?”

            “Stiles’.” Scott replied. “It’s bigger and my room is a mess.”

            “And Stiles’ isn’t?”

            “You can sleep on the woods if you want.” Stiles threatened.

            “I never said a thing against messy rooms.”

 

 

Dexter was nervous once Stiles parked the car. A man and a woman were standing in front of the house with excited smiles and open arms ready to receive hugs from Stiles and Scott. Stiles hugged the man and Scott the woman, changing the hugging partners after. Then the four of them turned to a very uncomfortable Dexter.

            “Dex, mom. Mom, Dex.” Scott said before hugging his mother again. “I missed you.”

            “Hello, Dex.” She said smiling at him. A lot of smiles were going on there. “You can call me Melissa.”

            “John.” The man, Stiles’ dad, said, extending his hand. “It’s a pleasure to have you.”

            “Oh, you guys are saving me from frozen food and Netflix, so...” He shook the man’s hand before continuing. “Not that I don’t like said things, but it’s good to do something different once in a while.”

            “I imagine having Stiles as you roommate didn’t help you change much of those activities. He spent some quality time meddling in my work here, but I don’t think the police department near college would be as permissive as I was.”

            “Yeah, sometimes I have to explain to him I can’t just hack their system to know what’s new in town.”

            “You do much hacking on college?” The Sheriff asked quite interested and that made Stiles intervene.

            “I don’t want my friend to have to call his lawyer, so maybe we can end this conversation here.” He said pushing his father by the hand to the back of Dexter’s car. “Maybe you can help take our clothes?”

            “I ain’t touching the dirty bags, though.” John said and Dexter laughed with him.

            “Oh, nobody is.”

            Stiles pretends to care about their mocking of him, but he is just glad they were having a pleasant conversation and everything was going great. He didn’t actually expected the two of them to completely hate each other in the first moment they met, but it was still comforting for him to know they were okay. Even though Dexter was only his roommate and who cares if they would be nice to each other or not. Stiles certainly didn’t.

            “I’m always scared when he is this quiet, just thinking.” He heard his father saying.

            “Yeah, it’s terrifying.” Dexter agreed. Maybe things were going too well.

            They got inside and Stiles had a surprise seeing how things looked different around the house. Not like extremely ‘I just invaded someone else’s house’, but not like ‘I’m the Sheriff living by myself and not having time to care about how my house looks like’. Dexter, obviously, didn’t notice the difference, but when Stiles got Scott’s look around the place he was sure he knew too.

            “You guys are living together.” He said and the Sheriff looked so guilty it had to be true.

            They smiled and hugged each other, because everyone were sincerely happy with that new development. Scott did the same, hugging her mom and saying how excited he was that she was so happy and loved and that maybe made Dexter’s heart melt just a little bit. Probably did the same with Melissa, because she tried to hide her eyes as much as possible and ran to the kitchen saying there was something she had to take care of.

            Since all the guys knew she was probably trying to hide how much she was nervous about their reaction and then relieved they weren’t mad, the Sheriff decided to go help her while the others went upstairs to put their suitcases in their rooms.

            Stiles room was the same as before, he noticed coming in, and that was really good and bad. Good because that meant nobody went through is stuff, which he expected because his father was never one to do things like that, but also bad because Dexter was right next to him and he didn’t have time to hide anything embarrassing. It was a very silly worry, since Dexter has been sharing a room with him for months and pretty much knew what embarrassing things Stiles had in his room, so why bother now? Because now Stiles maybe is accepting his crush on the guy. Maybe.

            While Stiles was so worried, Dexter was quite fascinated. There isn’t much about a person you can’t learn when they talk as much as Stiles, but being in his room felt a lot more up close and personal. It was a mess, obviously, but Dexter could still see that little bit of Stiles everywhere. Books opened and spread all over the place, with maybe some copied police files hided between them? Lacrosse gear half new because he probably never got to use it warming the bench as he did his whole high school. DVDs of the nerdiest movies in the world, most of them that Stiles made Dexter watch already. It was a lot to take in and Dexter was very distracted examining everything.

            “Dudes!” Scott yelled from across the hall. “My room is here!”

            They followed his voice to find the exact replica of Scott’s room. Since Dexter have never been there, he couldn’t recognized how amazing Melissa and John’s work was in transferring everything there to look exactly the same.

            “What you mean?” Dexter asked confused after seeing the wonder in Scott and Stiles’ looks.

            “It’s like they took his room and brought it across town here.” Stiles said and then turned to Scott. “You know that means they went through everything, yeah?”

            “Yeah, but like, I don’t have anything that embarrassing, I took everything with me.”

            “Damn, I should have done the same.” Stiles complained and then remembered that Dexter would have seen everything anyway, so what would have been the point?

            “Well, that’s very impressive, but your father studied crime scenes and stuff, right? I mean, attention to detail is police related ability, isn’t it?” Dexter asked.

            “Yeah, I think so.” Stiles replied.

            “Then why are you so surprised he was that good in his job?”

            That made Stiles stop and reflect a little. Scott followed him before they heard Melissa announce the dinner was ready. That wasn’t much reflection after that, since hunger was a lot stronger than introspection.

            Once they reached the table, that wasn’t much talk in the first minute. The homemade food in front of them was too good for them to waste time talking about boring college stuff. Food was all they could think about and the adults could understand this. Adults. At some point they are bound to start to consider themselves adults too, right?

“So, food is not a thing there, huh?” Melissa asked when she became worry they weren’t breathing.

            “It is.” Scott said with his mouth full. “But not this good.”

            A few more minutes of eating before they could managed to actually have a conversation.

            “Oh, mom, if I didn’t love you enough before, I do love you now.” Scott said with his belly full and his plate clean.

            “Yes, anytime you guys want to invite me over, I’m coming.” Dexter said nodding so forcefully he couldn’t hide his excitement. “This is the best meal I had in years.”

            “I know you guys are overstating it a lot, but you can keep going, I don’t mind. And after that, you can tell me how school is going.”

            “Tiring.” Stiles said. “It’s like if high school I had to study at 40%, now it like 90% or something.”

            “Well, that’s because Stiles took a hundred classes at once.” Dexter explained. “He’s crazy, I’m doing half what he is doing and still having trouble.”

            “And Dexter is a genius, did you know that?” Scott said excited.

            “I’m not a genius.”

            “You are like a kid prodigy or something, aren’t you?”

            “Again, I’m not.”

            “He is, because we are going to a lot of classes together and he is the only one understanding what the professors are saying.”

            “You are doing better, Scott, I told you.”

            “Using your flash cards.” He confessed and seeing the worried expression on his mother, he explained. “It’s just that training is hard and consume a lot of time and the other guys on the swimming team and other sports usually take easier classes. But for me to get to vet school, I have to take this hard biology classes that are like almost impossible.”

            “And Dexter is taking those classes too?” She asked.

            “Yes, he’s pre-med.” Stiles explained.

            “Wow, that’s fantastic.” The Sheriff said and Melissa agreed.

            “It really is. You know I’m a nurse in a hospital that has an amazing resident program, which is years from what you are doing, but still if you want I could show you around and...”

            “I would love that!” Dexter said more excited than Stiles ever saw him. “I keep thinking about all this specialties like I have to decide today which is ridiculous, but something about college just makes me anxious about every decision I have to make.”

            And funny enough, that hit Stiles as a car crash, because he too felt he had to decide his whole life in a single second and that was daunting as hell.

            “I can totally relate to that.” Stiles said. “You are luck, dad, you knew exactly what you wanted to do.”

            “It wasn’t really that much about choice and more about the options I had. I mean, at the time we didn’t have those fancy new jobs that are happening now, we didn’t have time to decided what we want to do. You picked a job you didn’t hate and ran with it until you died. Maybe I was lucky because I landed in one that I actually like.”

            “Still, Sheriff is damn impressive.” Dexter shrugged. “And taking care of Stiles? I mean, Stiles? You should be a saint, I don’t know how you did it.”

            He laughed because Stiles wasn’t amused with that conversation.

            “I can’t teach you some breathing techniques that may help.”

            “Okay, enough with the Stiles bashing, everybody had enough of that and I need to sleep because I ate so much I’ll probably wake up at Christmas eve.”

 

 

Nobody argued because they were all pretty beat up from the trip. Also, the weird hours they kept around school probably went down crushing as soon as they got into the familiar space because Scott and Stiles were ready to sleep a lifetime as soon as they went upstairs.

            The sleeping arrangement was easy to solve. Stiles and Scott would be rooming in Scott’s room and Dexter would get Stiles’ for himself the whole time they were there (which could be a good opportunity to snoop around, Dexter didn’t think at any point), so they went on to change the sheets and get towels and everything a good host usually does. When they finally finished and left Dexter by himself, he had all this plans about sending an angry text to his father and maybe imagine how it was like for Stiles growing up in that house, but five minutes in he was deep sleep and nothing mattered anymore.

            The other room had a similar behavior, with the added conversation between Stiles and Scott.

            “They seem happy.” Stiles said laying in the mattress they put next to Scott’s bed.

            “They do.” Scott smiled thinking about her mom being so relaxed, casually touching the Sheriff’s shoulders, and other stuff couples do without realizing. “I don’t think she is pregnant, though.”

            “Yeah, she didn’t have the glow. Not yet, anyway. You think is a possibility?”

            “Like, biologic speaking?”

            “No!” Stiles shook his head. “Like, she would want to? Do we even want that or was it just Dex putting it in our minds?”

            “Probably both. I mean, I wouldn’t mind a baby brother or sister.”

            “Me neither.” Stiles confessed. “You know who looks happy too?”

            “Dex.” Scott nodded.

            “Yeah.” Stiles sigh looking at the ceiling. “He really missed having a family, huh?”

            “Yeah, but like, who wouldn’t? I mean, you think about it, he was adopted as a baby and had the whole family on suburbs with white picket fence thing. Then his adoptive mom die, his adoptive father is an ass and he has to figure out everything by himself anyway. And like, he probably knows he still led a better life than a lot of kids without parents, but still...”

            “And also, he doesn’t seem to have many friends, does him? I mean, he hooks up now and then, but I don’t think he has like a proper mate with whom he can talk and stuff.”

            “He doesn’t seem too interested in talk about his feelings, though. Also, he has mates.” Scott corrected him. “We are his mates!”

            “But I don’t know if he knows that.” Stiles said before turning to his left. “We should sleep. Goodnight.”

            “‘Night.”


	2. Day Two

They went on to sleep. A lot. Like the whole night plus most of the day. Once one of them finally managed to get out of bed (or mattress, since it was a fully energized Stiles that woke up the other two), they found a note from the adults. They would be out the whole day pulling some double (or maybe triple) shifts so they could stay around for Christmas. Dexter couldn’t say how amazing he thought that was, that they were doing something like that just to spend time with their kids. It made him remember the angry text he was still to send his father.

            The decision about what to do next was pretty straight forward. Dexter would cook them breakfast, because he hasn’t cooked in a proper kitchen in ages and he really missed it, completely ignoring that it was in the middle of afternoon. Stiles and Scott would play video-games, something they did plenty of times in school, but still managed to want to do it more at the house. Apparently they really liked it. Go figure.

            Once the food is ready, they were quick to leave the game behind and eat, everybody saying how good it was and how Dexter should do it more often, ignoring the fact that he had no access to any of that in school. They decided he would cook the rest of the time they stayed at home and he didn’t argued about it.

            A few minutes later, with the bellies full and the energy still way up, they went back to the games, trying hard to get Dexter involved. They couldn’t get it, though, because as Dexter said a couple (or hundred) of times, he found video-games quite boring. He went on to play with his phone, texting, instagramming, facebooking or anything social media thing he could (or couldn’t) add a ing to it, but even the wonders of Internet couldn’t hold a college kid that slept over twelve hours.

            He decided to annoy the other two, since they were doing a good job annoying him with those hateful sounds from the game. He would throw pillows, mess with their hair, kick their heads, and even talk really close to their ears, giving Stiles some undesirable reactions he was happy enough to hide. After a few more rounds, they knew the game was over.

            “Okay, you win, what you wanna do?” Scott finally admitted defeat.

            “I don’t know.” Dexter said and Stiles almost yelled in frustration. “You guys are the ones who live here. What did you guys do?”

            “This!” Stiles yelled. “We did this.”

            “I don’t know why you are this mad at me if you are the one who is boring.”

            “You keep calling us boring, but I didn’t hear a suggestion yet.” Scott fisted bumped Stiles because they considered that a burn. It wasn’t.

            “Okay, maybe nothing is coming up to me right now, but I have a good idea of what my help me get there.” He said with a malicious smile on his face. “And I think you guys know what it is...”

            “An orgy?”

            “Almost. Alcohol!”

            Stiles and Scott looked at each other before laughing their asses off.

            “You are not getting alcohol around here.” Scott said.

            “I’m the Sheriff’s son. Our fake IDs may work around the campus because people like to pretend they are good even though they are terribly wrong, but not here where everybody knows who I am.”

            “I didn’t know you were so town famous.”

            “I’m not. My father is.”

            “Okay, but that doesn’t matter because I am 21.”

            “No, you are not. You are 20, like us.” Stiles said.

            “Maybe, but who knows? I can be 21. When the police found me as a baby, there was no information about when I was born. They did an estimate of how old I were and that’s how I ended up being 20, however who knows what my actual age is, so I used that and some of my father’s money to get an ID that says I’m 21.”

            “So it’s fake.”

            “Kind of. But is a fake that gives you a clear conscious because maybe I’m 21.”

            “So,” Stiles started, with a hand on his chin, “you want me to have a clear conscious about using the history of an orphan kid to buy alcohol for my illegal ass.”

            Dexter nodded. “Yes.”

            “Maybe I can do that. Can you do that, Scott?”

            “I’m pretty sure I do.”

 

 

They got to the supermarket like they were in a secret spy mission because even though Dexter had an awesome fake ID, it was just funnier to do so. They decided to divide and conquer because that way they could try to be less conspicuous. Didn’t work since they would have silly laughs at their own idiocy and people were already staring at them trying to understand what was going on.

            “We can do better than this.” Dexter said once they ended up in the same isle. “We need a plan and we need to stop giggle.”

            “Okay, we need beer.” Scott said.

            “And vodka.” Dexter added.

            “Tequila?” Stiles suggested.

            “And where will we store all this in your house? With the Sheriff? No, we get only things we are gonna drink today. No tequila because that’ll most definitely kill us. We also need snacks.”

            “Yeah, snacks.” Stiles said excited. “Get the drinks, I’ll get loads of snacks.”

            “Again, just for today.” Dexter repeated afraid of so much excitement in just one Stiles. He turned to Scott. “Follow him, please, and make sure he is not getting ready for the biggest sugar high of his life.”

            “Stiles and high in the same sentence is terrifying.” Scott agreed running to catch up with his friend.

            “It really is.” Dexter said walking calmly to the isle with the drinks.

            He manage to get the alcohol quite easily, trying to imagine how much of it his friends could take. He hasn’t gone to many parties with the two of them so it was hard to know about their capabilities. He would have to rely on general common sense and go from there.

            He was getting some sodas and other sugary drinks when he saw a woman passing by him. Something about her brought him right back to about five years before, when his father tried (and failed) putting him in a boarding school. That were many things he hated about the place, the strict rules, the teachers that pressured him to be just like everybody else from his uniform to his behavior, the entitled kids that thought the amount of money in their bank account had some relation with how much Dexter should respect them, but one thing he didn’t hate.

            “Allison?” He said and the curious girl turned around squinting her eyes when she saw him. “Allison Argent?”

            “Coburn?” She said once she was sure she recognized him. A broad smiled followed the realization and suddenly she was right next to him giving him a big hug. “Wow, Coburn, really? What are you doing in Beacon Hills?”

            “I’m visiting a friend’s family.” He said genuinely happy for seeing her. From all the people Dexter met in his life, that was one of the few he could actually said he liked. “What about you, what are you...”

            “I’m working with my father.” She said.

            “No college?”

            “Not yet, at least. I was ready to go, but every fiber of my body said I shouldn’t. So I talked to my mom and she said I was a stupid kid that didn’t know anything about life.”

            “Oh.” Dexter frowned. Yay for living with such supportive parents.

            “Yeah, then I went to my father and he said I could work with him while I figure out. Now mom isn’t talking to either one of us.” It was obvious how sad she was about the whole situation, but the resign in her voice made Dexter think it was something she was working on to improve.

            “Nice. At least your dad is helping you, mine ditched me again.”

            “I’m sorry. Parents suck sometimes. But college? How are you liking it?”

            “It’s good, it’s fun. I made some friends, hint me being here.”

            “With lots of alcohol.” She noticed.

            “Yeah, we slept for almost a day and now we thought that was a good idea, even though it really isn’t. I don’t think this guys have been training for years like we do.”

            “They didn’t have Professor Johnson sneaking drinks for us all weekend.”

            “And all he wanted was the number of rich divorcees.” Dexter shrugged enjoying the good memories. “I’m still amazed at this, I thought I would never see you again.”

            “Me too! I mean, you left school out of nowhere, never called, nobody knew where you were.”

            “Most of the time I didn’t either. This research lie my father told his editors was like the biggest con in history, he got to go wherever he wanted, stay as much as he wanted and drunk write the shitiest things so they could fix and call him a genius. I know that at some point he was actually a good writer, but nowadays he’s a con artist and everybody is just getting money out of his name.”

            “At least it’s a lot of money.” She shrugged.

            “Enough to buy this.” He pointed at the bottles. When he raised his sight he could see Stiles and Scott about two aisles away, observing everything very carefully and doing a terrible job hiding it. “If you turn around you’ll see the two creepy guys staring at us. They are my friends.”

            She did and as soon as they noticed, they tried to pretend to look at something that was on the shelves. Turned out it was toilet paper, so they turned back to Allison and Dexter and walked towards them.

            “Hi.” They said together like it was rehearsed.

            “Hi.” Allison was confused and amused at the same time, thinking Dexter sure knew how to pick friends.

            “Guys, this is Allison. Allison, this is Stiles and Scott. Stiles is my roommate and Scott’s his friend who spends more time in our room than his own.”

            “My roommate is an ass.” Scott explained.

            “He really is quite horrible, which obviously means I’m hooking up with him.” Dexter added and Allison didn’t seem all that surprise.

            “You always knew how to pick them.”

            He pointed at Stiles and Scott. “Case in point.”

            They would be offended if they didn’t know he was joking. He was joking, right?

            “We need to go if we’re gonna finish this before my father get home.” Stiles announced not liking that conversation so much.

            “Ok.” Dexter replied turning to Allison again. “We should totally get together some time before I get back to campus and catch up.”

            “Yeah, sure.” Allison agreed and extended her right arm. “Gimme your phone, I’ll get you my number and we can work something out.”

            “Or...” Scott gave a step forward. “Why don’t you come with us today? We are gonna eat snacks and drink and do whatever else we decide to do.” He said excited.

            “Not good on plans, huh?” Allison asked.

            “I think is more like too many plans. We’re too wired to choose just one. You really should come, you know I get very easy when I’m drunk.” Dexter shrugged with a devilish smile.

            “That you do...” She smiled back and checked her phone before turning to the boys again. She seemed unsure for a few seconds before shaking her head. “Okay, let me just tell my father I’m gonna take a little more time to get the groceries.”

            “Cool.” Scott said and pushed Stiles a little bit, trying to make him say something.

            “Yeah, cool.” He said without his friend’s enthusiasm. “We should get more food, then.” He announced pulling his friend, who seemed a little too focused on Allison to remember why they were there.

            “Okay.” Scott said thinking Allison probably wouldn’t add that much food to the list. He followed anyway.

            Once they were far enough so Dexter and Allison couldn’t hear, Stiles began the complaining.

            “Really, dude? Wasn’t the plan to get drunk and then I make my move?”

            “Still is, I think.” Scott replied, confused. “What’s the problem?”

            “The gorgeous girl with whom he has an history is the problem!” He said, almost smacking his friend’s head with frustration.

            “Well, I was thinking that while you make your move on him, I can make my move on her.” He said like it was really obvious. “What was I gonna do, anyway? Hide in my room while you two get it on in the couch? Like that wouldn’t be weird.”

            “Better than this. They are gonna spend all night remembering the good old days on studying in Europe and sucking each other’s faces under the Eiffel Tower.”

            “Did they do that?”

            “I don’t know.” Stiles almost yelled. “But possibly. And didn’t you hear how easy he gets when he is drunk? Oh, Scott, you ruined it. Now go get some good snacks, that’s the least you can do.”

            Stiles started to walk, shaking his head and complaining to himself while Scott followed him still not sure what he did wrong. They didn’t say anything about ever being together and even if they did, they weren’t now. Scott still totally had a shot with her. Right?

 

They got to the cashier and even though Stiles was really nervous and Scott would look everyone in the eyes expecting some crazy psychotic reaction, they managed to get the stuff and leave the supermarket in record time. Allison was outside waiting for them, her groceries already inside the car. She looked a bit guilty.

            “What did you do?” Dexter asked as soon as they passed by her.

            “A friend called. I said what I was doing, she invited herself.” She looked genuinely embarrassed, so the boys decided not to hold that against her.

            “It’s okay. Just follow our car and remind your friend that there’ll be underage drinking in the same house the Sheriff live, so...”

            “They are cool.” She guaranteed.

            “They?”

            Turned out that two friends of Allison showed up in Stiles’ house a few minutes after they did. A woman named Lydia Martin, with red hair and a presence that demanded attention, and Isaac Lahey, a man that even though didn’t have such a magnetic personality, was still charismatic enough for them to not care about the intrusion.

            “Is this the...”

            “Yep.” Stiles nodded when Dexter connected the stories he heard from Stiles’ high school. “That same Lydia Martin that I was madly crushing for many, many years.”

            “The same one that ignored him all those many, many years.” Scott added.

            “And now she is in my house, drinking and laughing and...” He took a big sip of the drink he had at hand. Dexter was sure he didn’t even know what he was drinking. “This is beyond anything I imagined.”

            “Guess you didn’t get over some of those stalkier feelings,” Dexter sipped his own drink before going talk to the small group of people in the other side of the room.

            “This is too weird, dude.” Stiles told Scott, clearly distressed. “It’s like two worlds colliding and I’m here just like looking at it. Lydia and Dexter are talking, getting to know each other and they are gonna hook up.”

            Scott almost spit his drink laughing at the very wildly conclusion. “What? What makes you think that?”

            “My life!” He said taking another big sip and emptying his cup. “Wasn’t it disastrous enough for something like that to happen? You really don’t think so?”

“Dude, I love you, but you are insane.”

            He raised his cup and smiled. “A drunk insane.”

            Close to them, Dexter was exposing just how close he was with Allison.

            “She was like one of the three people I didn’t hate in that school. The other two exceptions were the very, very hot history teacher with the beard and the great butt.”

            “Such a great butt.” Allison agreed remembering the asset. “He was a great teacher too.”

            “I barely noticed.” Dexter confessed. “And I didn’t hate my roommate, Danny. He was such a nice kid, and he survived one of my worst moods ever, poor thing.”

            “Danny was a saint.” Allison said. “You were horrible to anybody else at that place. He was like you, Lydia, with your mad bitch mode turned hundred.”

            “I don’t think the world can survive that.” Isaac said receiving a very intense and funny look from Lydia. Maybe it was funny because of the two drinks Dexter already had.

            “I don’t know what you guys call my mad bitch mode, which doesn’t offend me, by the way. But what I really get from that story is that we should track down this history teacher to make sure he knows the impact he had in you guys life.”

            Dexter looked at Allison, the idea sinking in. “Well, that would be... brilliant, wouldn’t it?”

     Allison laughed taking the empty cup from Dexter’s hand. “Really wouldn’t. I’ll get more and stay away from your phones.” She was gone to the kitchen while Lydia tried to convince Dexter of doing it.

            “Well, you convince Allison, I’m totally on board. She knew him longer than I did.”

            “She is not gonna go for that.” Lydia said disappointed. “She is too much of a nice girl.”

            “Unless you put something that can shoot. Then she is gonna embarrass the hell out of you.”

            “She took me to a fire range once. I can’t show my face there anymore.” Isaac confessed. “She hit every target, I almost shoot myself.”

            “Ouch.”

            “Yes, I don’t know how she didn’t fire me.”

            “Probably that very lovely face of yours.” Lydia explained and he slightly blushed.

            “So you work with her?” Dexter asked interested. Maybe he noticed the lovely face Lydia talked about.

            “Yeah, with her dad too. I deal more with office stuff, they are the ones with the guns and the actual security thing.”

            “God. Allison securing something. You look at her and you think she is this fragile little thing, she can actually murder you very easily.”

            “That’s how I met her.” Lydia said, making Dexter and Isaac, and now Stiles who was there next to them, look at her funny. “Not murdering anyone. I was walking and a guy tried to rob my purse. She broke his nose and gave me the purse back. It was love at first sight.”

            “I can see that. I can totally see that...”

            Scott wasn’t so smooth getting closer to Allison as soon as he saw her going to the kitchen. He really didn’t have the intention of looking like the weird guy following the girl, but when she was pouring the liquid in the two cups she took there, turned around and saw his face, it was really hard not reacting the way she did, punching him in the face.

            “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” She said as soon as she realized what she done.

            “No, I’m... okay.” Scott said with two hands on his face. Embarrassment, pain, shock all mixed in his reactions. “I just wasn’t expecting that.”

            “Sit, please.” She pulled a stool and he sat, turning his face up. She took his hands away and touched the marked area. He complained. “I don’t think is gonna leave a mark. I hope not. I’m so sorry.”

            “Really, it’s okay. I should know better than sneak on girls.”

            “This is your house, you were just going to the kitchen.”

            “Not really, I came to talk to you.”

            He smiled that innocent, puppy smile that made really hard not to think of him like some of the cutest thing in the entire world.

            “Let’s talk, then.”

            And they did for most of the night. They talked, they flirted, she touched Scott’s arms and he touched her hair. At least in the part of the night Stiles was awake. Because it turns out having your previous and current crush at the same place, talking and laughing and being that hot mess he was so attracted to was too much for him. All those drinks were also too much. He was drunkenly sleeping in the coach before anyone around him seemed slightly drunk.


	3. Day Three

When Stiles woke up, his face on the living room floor, some cups still hanging around and an imaginary hammer hitting his head every few seconds. He thought he was about to die. He had been drunk before, obviously, he was in college, but never like this, never that fast. Maybe that’s why he was feeling like he just got out of a food processor.

            The whole memory of the night before was foggy, but while he sat down and examined the evidence left around the house, he could put together what happened. First it was just him, Scott and Dexter and that was good. He could talk and make fun of them and maybe try something with Dexter. But then Allison was there and Dexter was talking to her because of course he would talk to her and then Scott was head over heels thinking he got a shot, which was good for Stiles and then he realized how stupid this whole chain of thought was. He felt really stupid about it all. So he drank.

            Lydia Martin was there too, he remembered suddenly. She looked beautiful with her big red hair and her intimidating look, a great reminder of why he spent so much time in love with her. And then she talked to Dexter and it was like two worlds colliding. And he was right there in the middle, drinking a little bit more and talking more crap. Crap, he needed a shower.

            He dragged himself upstairs trying hard to convince himself that he should go there, since the alternative was to lay six steps up. He gathered all the strength he still had left and got his ass to the second floor. He was proud of himself. He did it. And then he saw it. The door opened in his own room. He could see legs, hairy naked legs spread in his bed. He took another step and could see it was Dexter’s leg. The problem was that next to Dexter’s leg he could see another pair of legs. Allison’s, he figured by the big dark hair on the top of the bed. And to complete the picture that had to be from his drunk self tricking his mind, Scott there. Half naked. With Allison and Dexter. In his bed. What the hell?

            He went to Scott’s room and closed the door, trying to process everything. There was probably a good explanation, like they started to drink and then their body overheated and they decided to lay down half naked to cool down or something. Yeah, that was a good, plausible explanation. Which, obviously, didn’t involve the three of them having sex. Together. All three of them. Yeah, that wouldn’t happen.

            He heard a sound coming from outside and opened the door just a little bit, just enough to see what was happening. Scott was up, grabbing his clothes on the floor and putting them on. He was walking to the room and Stiles decided to do the more mature thing, run to the bed and pretend he was sleeping. Yeah, that would work.

            He stayed there for about fifteen minutes, his eyes closed and his ears registering everything. Scott looked through his stuff and then went to the bathroom. He heard the water from the shower falling on the ground, then Scott’s body. He pressed his head against the pillow because it was hurting. Also, because of all the thoughts going through it. Why would Scott do that if he knew how Stiles felt about Dexter? Also, why would Stiles be this upset, his friend just had a threesome! He should be happy for him, right?

            He thought a little more and his head hurt a little more before Scott shook him. He felt the water dripping from Scott’s hair and opened his eyes to his friend.

            “Are you alive?”

            “Barely,” Stiles said, pretending to be just waking up. He should think about drama school, he was good at it.

            “Yeah, I’m not that better, honestly. But we need to wake up and clean everything before my mom and your dad get here.”

            “My father would probably arrest us.”

            “Yeah, probably. Can you go shower and help us out? Dexter is up making breakfast.”

            “What about... what about Allison?”

“She is gone. Her parents must think she was kidnapped or something. Come on, get up.”

            Stiles obeyed, following the same steps his friend did a few minutes before. Clothes, shower. The water hitting his head like tiny stones hitting his brain. Every time he closed his eyes seeing those legs, all next to each other. His best friend with his crush and the girl from his crush’s past. Maybe distract himself with cleaning the house wasn’t such a bad idea.

            He doesn’t talk much with Scott while they clean, the smell of pancakes making all the crazy thoughts in his mind disappear. They heard Dexter calling and went to the kitchen. They eat silently.

            Dexter was happy and a smile wouldn’t leave his face. His holidays were improving tremendously, he got to make pancakes, which he loved and always reminded him of his mother, and it could only get better. Reconnecting with Allison was a great thing too, he never realized how much he missed her. He never realized a lot of things.

            “So, I guess hangover is a big thing for you guys?” Dexter asked once he got tired of the quiet.

            Stiles and Scott just nodded, their mouth full with food.

            “Okay. I need to go shopping. For presents and maybe some aspirin for you guys. You look half dead.”

            “I feel half dead.” Stiles said and Scott agreed. “What presents?”

            “Christmas presents.” Dexter said excitedly. Or at least as excited as he could be with an unresponsive crowd.

            “You don’t have to.” Scott assured him, leaving Dexter in doubt if it was because he was being nice or he just didn’t want to go out shopping two days before Christmas.

            “I want to. But if you guys want to stay home, I can call Allison and...”

            “We are going.” Stiles said faster than he should. He regretted that.

 

 

It took them about two hours to drag themselves to the store, which was obviously as full as humanly possible. Maybe more than that. There were so many people talking (and screaming), running, grabbing, dropping, just being incredibly annoying and making Stiles want to kill them. He should probably start with Scott, the traitor. But it was really hard for him to be mad at Scott (to anyone, but especially for Stiles). So the only thing he could do was be moody and not talking much, because yelling and actually acknowledging what was bothering (and maybe hurting) him was too mature for him at that point. He preferred to hide from his problems. It never really works, but it’s still his favorite thing.

            Scott, at his side, was kind of oblivious with the annoyance, partially because he blamed the hangover (that probably was affecting his mental faculties too), but also because Scott was on the clouds like that.

            Dexter, however, was too busy to notice anything. He was doing Christmas shopping. Actually shopping for people he knew and cared about. For probably the first time ever in his adult life. He decided to ignore how sad and lonely that actually was to give place to the excitement of it all. Choosing presents that people would like, waiting for their reaction and feeling good or bad about it. Dexter wanted to experience it all because 1) that was amazing, he couldn’t believe how much he wanted to do it and never realized before and 2) he didn’t know if he would ever get this opportunity again. Because deep down, in one of those dark and hidden places that Dexter worked hard to ignore, he wasn’t sure if he would ever really have a family or people that loved and cared about him no matter what. He was still accepting that something like that existed at all.

            So, he decided on the presents, making sure to hid Scott and Stiles’ not to spoil the surprise. For Melissa, who he didn’t know very well, he bought this comfy pair of slippers because he figure she spent a lot of time on her feet at work and that would be nice to step in something soft and warm once she was home. For the Sheriff, who he knew even less, he bought a book with word puzzles and other stuff to waste time thinking about steak outs or something. Only after he bought, he considered how few steak outs the man went living in Beacon Hills. He decided to add a coffee mug to the present. It said ‘not now, Stiles, I need some coffee for this’.

            “I’m hungry.” Scott said in the middle of the shopping. “What should I eat to feel more alive?”

            “A very big, greasy burger, probably.” Dexter suggested. “What do you think, Stiles?”

            He looked at his friends and thought at little before finally saying. “Whatever.” That was when Dexter realized something was weird.

 

 

The rest of the day becomes about trying to make Stiles talk. It was weird and tiring because usually they are trying to make him shut up and doing the opposite was stressful and unfamiliar. Dexter hated when people didn’t talk because that made it so much harder for him to understand their problem. If they talk, he could at least try to help. Awkward and uncomfortable silence? He couldn’t do much with that.

            They got home and found the Sheriff and Melissa watching TV. Stiles and Scott had to stop for a minute and acknowledge how much they looked great together. The fact that the two of them never realized it and push it to happen sooner was a mystery. They were sure glad they found a way without their help.

            “Busy day, I see.” The man said noticing the bags Dexter was carrying.

            “I got some very cool things.” The boy said happily. “It’s horrible to buy anything that isn’t college related at campus and even though I love the Internet, there’s something about looking and touching at thing before buying that makes me more sure about it being a good buy.”

            “The problem are all the people around you when you are trying to buy. That was horrible.” Stiles said, the comment making Dexter’s smile fade a little.

            Melissa looked at Scott, asking what was going on with her eyes. He shrugged.

            “Okay, then.” Dexter said trying to ignore that whole exchange. “I’ll just go to your room organize my stuff and maybe try a ritual to get all your negativity out of me. Goodnight, guys.”

            “’night.” Melissa said looking at the Sheriff when the other boys followed him upstairs.

            The man looked at her too and read too well what she wanted to say.

            “I should talk to him, right?”

            “Yes.”

            “I still know how to do it, right?”

            “You are his father.” She reminded him. “There’s no one in the world that can talk to him better than you.”

            He sighed. “I thought the moody teenager phase was gone.”

            “For sons?” She laughed. “I don’t think it ever does.”

            He stood up thinking he was too tired for this. He remembered Stiles was his son and how much he loved the kid. That helped him to get upstairs. Knocking on the door and asking for Scott to give him a minute? That took every ounce of energy he had.

            “Did something happened?” Stiles asked, a little panic crossing his eyes.

            “What?”

            “You coming here, asking Scott to leave.”

            “I didn’t ask him to leave.” He frowned before sitting on Scott’s bed. “That’s his room, after all.”

            “I know. I kind of lost mine.”

            “You wanted Dexter to come, right? He is your friend.”

            “I did.” Stiles nodded, sitting next to his father. Suddenly he was a little embarrassed about the whole day. “He is cool, I’m not mad he took my room. That would be petty.”

            “And weird, since you invited him.”

            “Technically, Scott did. But yeah, that’s not what’s bothering me. It’s just... not going as I imagined.”

            “And how did you imagined?”

            He waited for an answer that never came. Stiles just shrugged and looked blankly at the wall.

            “You know what I think? Your head is too big.”

            Stiles turned to him with a mix of offence and confusion. “What?”

            “Yeah. It’s like, too much go on in it and I think sometimes you lose focus on what’s happening outside. I mean, I saw you do it your entire high school, thinking about who you wanted to be, who you wanted to be with and all those things that sometimes kept you from actually doing what you want. And I don’t know if that’s because you are afraid of being disappointed at the end or just anxiety, but things that happen in your head usually stay in your head. Unless you do something for it to get out. You know what I mean?”

            “Not really.”

            “Stop thinking so much and start doing it. Give life a chance to be as amazing and heartbreaking as it’s supposed to be. I know it’s safer in your head with all the scenarios and possibilities, but at the end of the day that’s not enough for you, for anyone.”

            Stiles took in his father’s words, thinking about how much he feel like a child with his father there. He also realized how much his father knew him. He was supposed to know that, but he didn’t, not fully. He did now.

            “That’s it, kid. That’s all I have to say.” He stood up and walked to the door, but before leaving he turned to Stiles again.

            “You know, I bought you a thermos with the inscription ‘best sheriff in beacon hills’. I hope you don’t mind if I scrapped the sheriff and write dad.”

            “You should keep both.”

 

 

Dexter was checking social media on his phone as he did every day before actually sleeping. His feed showed a lot of people from college in parties and clubs and stuff like that and he smiled. He still thought he was having a better time than they ever would.

            “Dex?” He heard Scott from behind the door and yelled a “Come in” as a reply.

            Scott obeyed, looking first to make sure the friend was decent.

            “My mom said she is going to work early. She said you can go later and sleep a little more.”

            “I can go with her if she wants too.”

            “I think she would rather later because as soon as she gets there she has to go through the patients and get information from the night nurses and stuff, so...”

            “Yeah, okay. Cool. Your mom is very nice for doing this. She and the Sheriff have been very nice all together.”

            “Oh, dude, it’s nothing, really. You even got them presents,” he said smiling. He walked to Stiles bed and sat next to Dexter. “I almost forgot to get something for my mom.”

            “That doesn’t surprise me, actually.” He nodded turning the screen of his phone off. “So, Stiles. He was weird today, wasn’t he?”

            “Stiles is always weird.” Scott shrugged. “He was just like... extra weird? I think it was the hangover. He is very light headed with drinks.”

            “I noticed.” He said remembering how fast Stiles was out.

            “Yeah, but now that you said it... I don’t know. Maybe I’ll ask him tomorrow.”

            “Okay.”

            Dexter got his phone again and went through some screens when he noticed Scott wasn’t moving. Scott actually was looking at him, sounding confused and unsure. Dexter decided to wait for him to say whatever he was working himself to say.

            “Have you... huh... talked to Allison? Since, you know...”

            “Morning?” Dexter asked with a smirk. It was so funny to see Scott as nervous as he was right now. “Yeah, we have been texting. Why?”

            “Oh, nothing, just asking.” He said dismissing the subject. He stood up, ready to leave, when Dexter stopped him.

            “You know, I could ask Allison if she wants your number.”

            Scott’s face was probably best described as a child getting an early Christmas present. He had this big, huge smile with his eyes shining with excitement.

            “Really? Won’t it... won’t it be weird?”

            “I don’t think so. I mean, I’ll just ask, if she doesn’t want to, she’ll say it. Believe me, she’ll have no problem saying no if she wants to.”

            “Okay. Then okay.”

            Dexter could see how much he was trying to hold this energy inside and that was amazing to watch.

            “She really impressed you, huh?”

            “She did, yeah. I mean, she is awesome, isn’t she? And not just like her face and stuff, although that’s awesome too, but yesterday we got to talk and get to know a little about each other and she is like kind and generous and smart and all around amazing, so yeah, she’s great.”

            “Okay, just don’t ask her hand in marriage just yet, okay? You guys literally just met. “

            “Of course.”

            “You know who is also very cool?” Scott said as excited as before.

            “Me?”

            “Not really, you are like okay at best. Isaac! He was telling me all about this like security protocols and things about motorcycles.”

            “When did you even talked? He was with Allison, like, the whole time, I even thought that they had a thing.”

            “You think everybody has a thin. But do they?” Scott asked half worried and half aroused, for his own surprise.

            “I asked, Allison wasn’t that direct with her answer. I did throw some flirting on his way and had a positive response.”

            “That’s... that’s good, right?”

            “Oh, yeah, he is very good looking, with this mix of innocence and, I don’t know, mystery? That sounds lamer than I thought.”

            “It doesn’t.” Scott nodded. “It doesn’t sound lame at all.”


	4. Day Four

Dexter woke up excited on Christmas Eve. Not only because of the tour around the hospital, something he was actually looking forward since he got to the town, but also because for some reason he felt it would be a good day. For some inexplicable, weird way he would never admit or explain, he had great hopes for those twenty-four hours that belonged to December forty-fourth. When he got downstairs, however, the house was quiet. Very quiet.

            Stiles was staring hard at his cereal bowl, which was weird in itself because Stiles wasn’t one to stare hard at things. Especially not for that long. Dexter really should go around to know what was going on there. As soon as he got back from the hospital, he promised himself.

            Scott, though, that was easy to know what was going on. Because when he talked to Allison, she happily accepted his number and considering how much the guy was typing and staring at this phone, that that was going great.

            “’Morning.” Dexter said sitting next to Stiles. No reply from any of them. “Okay.”

            He ate silently too and left without a goodbye, thinking they were really weird today.

            As soon as he left, Stiles started to talk.

            “Dude, we need to... we need to talk, I think.”

            He waited, but since Scott didn’t acknowledge him, Stiles took his phone.

            “Dude!” He complained.

            “Just for a minute, geez.” He looked at the screen and saw Allison’s name on it. “Okay, I just need to say that I was mad for a while because I was caught by surprise and that’s why I was being so shitty yesterday and probably today, but now I had time to think and I can understand and see how you would probably think I wouldn’t mind and...”

            “Stiles.” Scott interrupted him, completely confused. “I’m not following.”

            “You and Dexter.” He explained.

            “And?”

            “And... Allison?”

            “What about Allison? Did she say anything?” He tried to get the phone, but Stiles didn’t let him.

            “Dude, can you please focus here because this is serious, it took a lot of soul searching to get here, or at least as much soul searching as you can do in one day.”

            “Stiles, what are you talking about? I have no idea why this awkward conversation is happening.”

            “Because you had sex with Dexter!” He said. Or maybe he yelled. He was not sure. He also wasn’t sure was why Scott had to sit down to laughed at his clearly distressed face. “You know, that’s just rude and a bit cruel.”

            “How come you think I had sex with Dexter?” He said between laughs because really, how crazy was Stiles?

            “Your threesome with Dexter and Allison...”

            At this point, Scott was leaning his body on the table to refrain him from falling to the ground. He knew he had to stop and explain things for Stiles, but the story was just so crazy and unrealistic, he barely had strength to breath.

            “Okay, hear me out because, seriously, this is the craziest thing you ever said. And one time you invited me to look for half a body in the woods.”

            “And you chickened out.”

            “Yeah, because I’m not insane. Anyway, me and Dexter? Never happened. Me, Dexter and Allison, not in my wild dreams, although that actually give me some ideas...”

            “I saw you guys, like, naked. On my bed!”

            “Allison spilled drink in her clothes, that’s why she slept here, so she could wait for her clothes to dry and she could go home. Mine and Dexter were full of vomit that came from you drunk ass when we tried to get you upstairs. I was there helping Dexter set Allison up, but we started to talk and I fell asleep. That’s all that happened, I swear.”

            Stiles felt really stupid at that point because, yeah, that made a lot more sense than a drunk threesome.

            “And you were okay with that? Man, you are head over heels for Dexter since you met, I would be a terrible friend if I did that, and you should have punched me.”

            “I would never punch you.” Stiles said.

            “You should if I had actually done it. Which I would never do because you are my best bro and I would never do something that would hurt you like that. You should know that.”

            “I do, I... My father said yesterday that I get too much in my head. I think that’s a great example of that.”

            “It’s. But, you know, you need to sort this out with Dexter.”

            “No, I don’t. I’m perfectly happy with this platonic set up.”

            “Oh, no, you’re not.” Scott said, now annoyed. “You just keep saying that because... God knows why. You know Tuesday, that you have that class close to lunch time and Dexter’s in the other side of the campus and I eat my lunch alone?”

            “Yeah, but what does this have to...”

            “So, I was sitting there in the dining hall by myself and like two or three girls seated next to me. One of them was talking about this guy, this Nice Guy, she said. He was like her friend and was thoughtful and listened to her and did all the things a friend would do and when sometimes he would hug her a little longer than she wanted or maybe kiss her or do some weird stuff like that, she would ignore it because he was her friend and he was nice. And then, later, she started to realize that this Nice Guy wasn’t actually nice because he cared about her and wanted her to feel good. I mean, he wanted that, but in his mind doing all of that gave him the right to expect things from her. That because he was such a ‘nice guy’, she was required to give him back all his attention even if she didn’t want to. So, in reality, he was never her friend because he was always expecting something else from her and everything he did was a form of manipulation to get there. Do you get where I’m going with this?”

            “No, not really.”

            “When does you having a crush on your friend goes from being platonic to the nice guy thing? Because it’s not necessary a conscious thing, those guys are not necessary evil, manipulative persons, they just had put in their minds that they deserved something from this other person for no other reason than the fact they want to. And if you think about it, it’s kind of what you are doing with Dexter. Because right now, everything he does, you try to put in a romantic, platonic light because that’s what you want from him and that’s not fair. Not for him and not for you.”

            “So what should I do? Just never talk to him again, we are roommates!”

            “No, quite the opposite. Talk to him, figure out what he wants. If he wants to try something with you, great, you guys are on the same page. If not, at least you’ll know and be able to adjust yourself for that reality. ’Cause right now you are not his friend, not really. You are just a guy waiting for more than you are getting.”

            Stiles nodded, considering every word he just heard. It certainly hit him harder than he expected.

            “You know, sometimes I forget how smart you actually are.”

            “I do a good job concealing it. With my great looks it would be very intimidating to be around me if everyone knew.”

            He grinned and Stiles laughed. It was good not to be angry at Scott anymore.

 

 

Although Dexter would love to be there to witness the breakdown and awkward conversation that followed, he was having his own kind of fun in the hospital. Melissa was an amazing guide, being capable of doing her job and still showing Dexter around the place and the people that worked there, especially the people that could help him in a few years when he had to find a job or an internship. However, there were those times when she had to concentrate solely on a patient and Dexter had to be left to his own devices. But that was okay for him too, because that meant he could go and explore the place and things that don’t usually take people's attention, like how the board is organized or how much time the patients are left unattended while the staff is looking at another patient. He was so fascinated about the whole dynamic of the place he almost missed Allison crossing a corridor.

            “Are you stalking me?” He smirked at her and she just smiled back.

            “Oh, yes. I have this burning passion since France, now I just can’t stay away.”

            “You should have just said it, because I’m hot, you're hot, we should just be hot together and...”

            “And what?” He heard a deep voice behind him and didn’t need much intellect to imagine who he was.

            “Mr. Argent?” He greeted and asked at the same time.

            “Yes.” The man said, holding that intimidating face for as long as possible, apparently.

            “Dad, this is Dexter Coburn. Remember, I told you I saw him in town.”

            “You did, I remember. You’re spending the holidays, right? And then go back to college?”

            “Yes, sir.” He said without even realizing it. Allison held a laugh.

            “Any chance you can convince her to do the same?”

            “I wouldn’t bet in the odds of convincing your daughter to do anything she doesn’t want to.” He replied honestly because for what he knew of Allison, she was as strong willed as a person could be.

            “That would be smart, I guess. Happy holidays, Dexter.”

            “Thank you.” He said observing the man go away. He turned to Allison. “What was that?”

            “That was my father.”

            “Are your whole family that intense?”

            “He is actually way better than my mother. You would pee your pants if you met her. And my grandpa, the one we are visiting? He has this very weird vibe, it’s just very uncomfortable around him so, yeah, that’s the best experience you can hope for when it comes to my family.”

            “Wow.” He nodded, surprised. “Well, at least, you know...”

            “What?”

            “Your father is, like, kind of hot.”

            “God, Dexter, why would you say that to me?” She put her hands on her eyes trying to erase that moment. Didn’t work.

            “It’s true, like, he is a total dilf. Sorry I’m the one who had to tell you that.”

            “Not as sorry as I’m, Jesus.”

            After that, Allison left promising never to speak to him again. He knew it was a lie, but he still sent a text apologizing. And maybe making fun of her again.

            Melissa found him a few minutes later telling him she would have a break for lunch and then a couple more hours before going home.

            “I wish it wasn’t such a busy day so I could show you more stuff.” She said between bites.

            “Oh, you showed me plenty, this is amazing. People at school keep saying they want huge hospitals and become, I don’t know, board directors or something...”

            “Aren’t you in your second year?”

            “Yes, I am.” He laughed because yeah, he found that stuff pretty ridiculous too. “There’s a lot of rich, entitled guys on pre-med. And, in some ways, I’m probably one too. But I do want to help people, you know? That’s why I want to be a doctor. I’m thinking maybe a hospital in a smaller town is the best way for me to do it.”

            “And that has nothing to do with you thinking Stiles is coming back here after school, right?”

            Dexter almost choked on his food. She just laughed at him.

            “That’s... I’m not...”

            “Basing a life changing decision on a guy you met four months ago? Good to know. Or confirm.”

            “Yeah, I would... I would never do that. Even if I was dating Stiles, which I’m not.”

            “Oh, I know. There would be a lot less tension around you guys if you were. Why aren’t you, anyway?”

            “I...” He stared at his food and then at her. That was a trap. He was really stupid to fall for it. He thought about lying, saying he liked someone else or anything that could end the conversation. She deserved more than that. He did too. “I don’t have many people in my life and it’s not always my faulty, but sometimes it’s. Those guys, I would like to keep them.”

            That wasn’t what she expected to hear, so she eat a little more while she thought about what to say. He did the same.

            “When my husband left,” she said finally and Dexter stopped eating to look at her, “I was hurt and confused and scared. I had a little boy and not much of a safety net and I was suddenly a working single mom. It was terrifying. Scott didn’t know much of what was going on, he thought I was just sad because his father wasn’t there anymore, much like he was. So Stiles showed up at my house with the top part of his father uniform saying he would be my husband.” She laughed because the image was still in her mind. “I guess he knew that Scott’s father was a FBI agent, so he thought I would only marry a cop. I told him he was too young for me and he said ‘but I don’t want you or Scott to be alone’. And you know what, we didn’t marry, but he hasn’t let us alone ever since. Like, seriously, he copied the key of the house and sometimes I would think someone was robbing the place and there he was.”

            “I can imagine that...”

            “So, what I’m saying is, either something happen or not, Stiles’ not the kind of person to just disappear on you. So you may as well try, you know? If it’s something you want.”

            Dexter had those words on his mind when he got to Stiles’ place. He didn’t know Stiles was nervously waiting for him to get there. He didn’t know Stiles had this whole speech prepared. He just got inside the room and when he saw Stiles by himself, he walked to him and kissed him. It was a hard, weird kiss because all the waiting and frustration around it. Also because Stiles was confused, but pleasantly surprised. When the kiss broke and Stiles opened his mouth to talk, Dexter shook his head and kissed him again. And they did that for a while.


	5. Day Five, Six and Seven

Christmas morning came bringing presents and celebration. It was funny to have that thing that everybody knew happened, but nobody wanted to talk about. Because it was clear by how much more relaxed Stiles was that something happened. Sheriff and Melissa exchanged some looks about that, but kept it in the down low. Whatever they wanted to tell them, they would in due time.

            Stiles and Dexter were going well. Maybe too well because every time one of the parents wasn’t around, they were making out in some place in the house. Scott would be like ‘finally’ at first, but at the second or third day he thought that it was getting kind of annoying. Stiles said they had some time to catch up on. Dexter said he should go get his own make out partner, which he also did too well, because later Allison texted him saying she had sex with Scott. And Isaac. At the same time.

            “I wasn’t sure our friendship were at that stage.” He said after he called her.

            “Remember that time you almost dry humped my father? You started this.” She complained. “This is weird, right? This is kinda weird.”

            “Oh, don’t worry, lots of people text their friends after having sex.” He assured her.

            “Not that, idiot, me and Scott and Isaac. I mean, I consider myself an open minded person, but...”

            “Yeah, that’s, like, right open.”

            “So open!” She repeated. “And what do I do now? Scott is getting back to college in like a week and Isaac will be here, working with me. And my father? How weird is that.”

            “I think you are freaking out.”

            “Shouldn’t I be freaking out?”

            “Of course not. So, you had a threesome. Lots of people have threesomes. It’s literally as common as a blowjob.”

            “Oh, that’s a lie.”

            “I’m in college, I would know. You just have to treat it like normal sex. You did it, you enjoyed it...”

            “I did.” She interrupted him. “I really did.”

            “Oooookay.” Dexter said scared of what would come next. “We are not in the sharing details phase, right?”

            “No, we’re not.” She said quickly. “But still, what do I do now.”

            “I don’t think you do anything. Unless you want to do it again.”

            “I... I don’t know.”

            “Well, maybe that’s what you do now, figure out what you want. Or who you want. Or if you want them both.”

            “I can’t have them both.”

            “Why not? I can have the whole softball team if I want too.”

            “Not now that you are dating Stiles.”

            “I’m not... I’m not dating Stiles.” He lowered his voice because he was in Stiles’ room and who knows who could be entering there.

            “Oh, really? Then why Scott told me he hasn’t seen your hand out of his ass for the last three days?”

            “It’s just a good place to rest my hand, I guess...”

            “Dexter!”

            “Well, we are kissing and doing other stuff...”

            “I don’t need to...”

            “You just had sex with two guys, you can deal with me talking about gay sex.”

            “I can, I just don’t want to.”

            “So, we are having fun. The dating part is yet to be addressed.”

            “Oh, okay. Casual, huh? And when are you guys gonna talk?”

             “I don’t know.”

            “You should. Soon. Like, before you get back.”

            “Why? Everything is great right now. We kiss and hang out whenever we want, there’s no pressure, no nothing. It’s really cool.”

            “And how long you think that’s gonna last? Come on, Dexter, you guys share the same incredible small room...”

            “You don’t know the size of our room.”

            “Everybody knows that. You see each other every day and are friends, good friends. This is not a casual thing and if that’s what you wanted, you made a terrible mistake. Besides, I don’t even think you want that because you do really care about Stiles.”

            “Maybe that’s why I want something casual, because if this becomes something more, with that comes responsibility, accountability and all this crap that nobody have time for.”

            “You better make time, because it’s happening. You want it or not.”

            They hang up when Dexter heard the door open on the other room. She was right, though, and he knew that. He just choose to ignore it because, honestly, it was so much easier. He didn’t want to talk and Stiles didn’t want either. Well, maybe that was a bit of a lie, since he tried to talk the last few times that were alone. Dexter just distracted with some kissing and hands in inappropriate places. You know, if Stiles really wanted to talk, he would have stop him, right?

            Yep, he would.

            On the other room, Stiles was folding some of the finally clean clothes he took home while Scott was sitting on the bed, looking at the wall silently. He had this big cloud of thoughts around his head and Dexter could see the night before freaked him out as much as it did Allison. He wondered if it was a good idea to initiate the conversation, since he was pretty sure he knew what it was about. It would be kind of weird being in the two sides of this and trying not to say to one how the other was feeling, but he was kind of in that mess. And Scott really seemed to need some help.

            The other side of it was that maybe Scott should process some of it by himself and, if he wanted to talk, look for them. He knew they would support him in anything, right? At least Dexter hoped he did. Again, he didn’t have much practice in that being friend thing. It was hard to know what to do at this point.

            “Dude, you are looking very weird for someone that just had sex.” Stiles said finishing with the clothes. “Did it, like, didn’t work or something?”

            “What?” He widened his eyes because really, who goes there first? “No!”

            “If it did, it would be okay, Scott.” Dexter said laughing because the weirdness of that conversation was too good to ignore. “It’s quite normal, although usually kind of happens with people with more age than us...”

            “It worked, okay, it’s not that.” Scott stopped him. “I had sex last night.”

            “I know, you were out with Allison and just got home. Unless you were kidnapped, that was our hypothesis.”

            “Yeah, so, I was out with Allison and we went on kind of a date, you know? Movies, dinner and stuff. But when we were at the movies, Isaac was there trying to pick a movie to watch and we start to talk and, you know, Isaac is a very interesting guy...”

            “We know.” Dexter nodded because he and Stiles had talk already how interesting Isaac was.

            “So we were talking and kind of ended up seeing the same movie. And at first I thought ‘well, that’s weird because how am I gonna make out with Allison now if Isaac is right next to us’.”

            “But dude, I and Dexter have been making out with you around for the last three days.”

            “I know. I hate it.”

            “Oh.”

            “Yeah, so I was like trying to watch the movie but still make my move, you know. Like, touching her hand, hugging her, that kind of stuff. And then I realized that she would get closer to Isaac to tell him things in his ear and you know, that didn’t bother me at all. Actually, it was kind of... hot? In a way. I don’t know, man, she was like very close to him, but still holding my hand and suddenly they like kissed. Right there, in front of me!”

            “Wow, dude.” Stiles said sitting next to him now. “And what did you do?”

            “Nothing, I was like staring at them in complete disbelief because what do you do when something like that happen. And then Allison turned to me like half embarrassed, half really horny and says she wants to try something. And then we end up in Isaac’s apartment and, you know, have sex.”

            “The three of you?” Stiles has his eyes widened now because his little friend just had a threesome with a guy and a girl (this time for real) and he didn’t know how he felt about that.

            “Yeah. I didn’t even know I liked having sex with dudes!”

            “You were always way too interested in Isaac not to like.” Dexter said because that was pretty obvious.

            “Was I?”

            “Well, I don’t know but, like, sex with guys is pretty great.” Stiles blinked at Dexter, who just grinned and shook his head.

            “Yeah, that’s what I learned. And the weirder part is not even that.”

            “There’s more?”

            “Yeah, because I thought that it would be like this hot mess with body parts and sex screams and stuff like that because that’s how porn does.”

            “And obviously porn is such a good place to learn about sex...” Dexter mocked.

            “But it was nothing like that. It was tender and heartwarming and magical. It also was a hot mess with body parts and sex screams, but also was more than that? I think I like them. And that’s weird, right? I mean, liking two people at the same time and wanting to be with both of them. Together.”

            “I don’t think it’s weird.” Dexter said also sitting next to him. “I think is different from the other experiences you had. I think that is different from what people say you should do. But honestly, who cares about that? There are still people that say that because sometimes I put my dick in Stiles’ bun we are going to hell.”

            “Sometimes we do the opposite, just so you know.” Stiles guaranteed his friend, who just frowned.

            “I didn’t need to know any of that.” He complained, but then smiled to them. “I really don’t think you are going to hell.”

            “We better not, ’cause if we are, you’ll be right next to us.” Dexter said. “Allison and Isaac, at least you have good taste. I would definitely go for Isaac if this guy wasn’t pinning on me for the last four months.”

            “Like you weren’t doing the same thing.” Stiles complained.

            “At least I did something about it.”

            “I didn’t have time, did I?”

            They kept talking for a while, changing the subject from time to time to try to show Scott that really it wasn’t that big of a deal. Also that he had to talk to the two of them if he wanted to figure out something to move forward. It didn’t escape Dexter that he was giving the same advice he was fighting so hard to ignore, but he just added it to the list of things he was ignoring. Because really, there’s never enough stuff there.

            He wondered if Allison and mostly Isaac were having the same support Scott was having. If they were as confused and were as affected by the night as his friend was, they would need. He wasn’t that close to Isaac to call, but he sure was with Allison. Maybe after the initial freak out she was more aware of what she was feeling.

            She wasn’t.


	6. Days Eight, Nine, Ten

They spent a lot of the next few days chilling. As Dexter predicted, no professor sent any grades or anything and the three college boys were working hard on keep school as far from their minds as possible. It was easy when they have so much to distract them, because Dexter and Stiles were really enjoying the time out. Since the Sheriff and Melissa still kept some crazy hours, even though they tried to squeeze some time to spend with the boys, they smartly used the whole available time they had.

            They would go to Stiles’ room and he would tell Dexter about all the stuff that was important to him, like the books his mother gave him (she liked to read a lot and Dexter could see how much they meant to him). Dexter would tell him about being home with his own mom and trying to cook something (she was terrible at it, but she was still so happy doing it, he kind of learn just to feel closer to her). They would complain about school and how Stiles was having a hard time picking a major, how people from Dexter classes were annoying. And then they would make out until they were sweaty and breathless.

            Scott, while they were doing all that, were spending more and more time with Allison and Isaac. They talked and planned on not putting much pressure in what was going on to see where that was going, especially considering that Scott would be gone in a few days and how, honestly, they only met a week ago. They decided to enjoy as much time as they had left and then, if anything happens after that, they would go from there. It was Isaac’s suggestion, by the way. The guy seem a lot cooler with the whole situation than the others ever predicted.

            That way, it wasn’t hard to find the five of them together, sometimes Lydia tagging along complaining about her college boyfriend having to visit his own parents. They never drank together as much as they did in that party, but they were planning to.

            “New Year’s Eve is gonna be in my boat house, I already told my mother.” Lydia announced while they were out eating hamburgers. “I just have to think about who else to invite because I’m not gonna be third or fourth or sixth wheel.” She said counting the people there. “As I have been doing for the past week, apparently.”

            “You complain so much, it’s like you don’t even love us. You keep talking like that, we are not reserving that seat next to us in hell.” He made fun of her because he loved to annoy her.

            “Like I would want to spend time with you there. I would search for DaVinci or any other bisexual genius down there.”

            “So even in hell you are gonna mistreat your friends, that’s cold.”

            They continued to talk and mess with each other, Isaac and Stiles doing the same thing because apparently they liked the same game. Dexter thought maybe it was a little bit about Scott’s attention, but never said anything to not cause problems. They were walking home, the group kind of divided in the street with Scott, Stiles and Isaac walking a few steps from Lydia, Allison and Dexter.

            “Isn’t it kind of cool that I predicted you threesome?” Stiles said suddenly, leaving a confused Isaac and a grinning Scott.

            “What?”

            “He thought I had sex with Allison and Dexter last week.” Scott said passing his arm around Isaac. “Now he thinks he can predict the future.”

            “Maybe not predict, but like, I can’t help but feel responsible for this. If I didn’t put threesome in your head, that would never happen.”

            “Of course it would, the only thing that freak out did was make me laugh and tell you to get your shit together.” Scott said.

            “I had no idea about it and went along, so maybe your influence is not that big on the situation.” Isaac explained.

            “Of course you would say that, you don’t know about my crazy good abilities in influencing people into doing what I want.”

            “And why aren’t you using those abilities to talk to Dexter about what you guys are doing next?”

            Scott made the guiltiest face ever with that and Stiles knew exactly what happened.

            “Stop talking about me and Dex with your boyfriend.” He complained. “And girlfriend. She is Dexter’s friend, what if she talks to him?”

            “I’m sorry, you know sometimes I just say stuff without meaning to. And maybe if you spent a little less time talking to me about Dex, I would have other stuff to talk about.”

            “I don’t do that.” He crossed his arms and frowned. “It’s just that...”

            “Here we go.”

            “You know, Isaac, I can tight this scarf around your neck a little more if you want.”

            “Just talk, Stiles.” Scott asked. If he took a step to the side and got the scarf out of Stiles reach, it was a coincidence.

            “In like four days we are going back to school, right? And Dexter, since I met him, had quite a few hook ups. Now, that’s not really my problem, but it would be nice to know if I’m in the same category as those people because, you know, if he show up with someone else in the dorm, it may affect me.”

            “Because you like him.” Isaac added.

            “Maybe I could like him in the future.”

            “Wait, you don’t even like him? It’s Dex, everybody likes him.”

            “God, Scott, I’m saying I care about him, but I still don’t caaaaaaaare about him.”

            “Using the same word is quite confusing, Stiles.” Isaac added. “You are quite confusing.”

            “Okay, right now is a crush. And I may annoy you guys about it, but it’s a crush and, you know, if it ends, I’m gonna be okay because it’s like, it’s a possibility. However, the more I spend time with him and the more we hook up, because trust me, he is really good at hooking up, that crush may become something more, I may start to actually full on like him and then I need to know if that’s a path he wants to take too or if I’m alone at this. You get it now?”

            “Yeah, we get that. Why don’t you talk about it with him?”

            “That, my friend, is the problem.” He said with a defeated look on his face. “Every time I try to bring it up, I end up getting distracted.”

            “What you mean, distracted?” Isaac asked.

            “Making out, obviously.”

            “Dude, for real, you are spending twenty-four hours per day together, it’s impossible that you couldn’t get him to talk.” Scott said.

            “Well, I’m accomplishing the impossible, then, because it’s just not happening. And, you know, I’m trying to stay out of my head and not obsess, but it’s hard with so much uncertainty around this.”

            “And what do you want?” Isaac asked again and Stiles was kind of surprise on how much he was interesting in his love life.

            “I want to give it a go. I’m just not sure he wants the same.”

            That day, before going to sleep, Stiles tried again. He and Dexter were watching some cooking show on TV, because Dexter was kind of obsessed with them, and he turned around to talk, but before he could say anything, Dexter kissed him. And something in that just made him snap. Because either way, Dexter knowing what he was doing or not, he was tired of being the one thinking all the time. He was actually exhausted. And for once in his life he thought “screw this, I’m just gonna kiss the boy and let whatever happen, happen”.

            He kissed the boy. And it was good.


	7. Day Eleven

Dexter was very relaxed sleeping when his phone ringed. It was loud and obnoxious and he hated it, but he picked up anyway. At least that way it would stop.

            “We are having breakfast.” Allison said on the other side.

            “We are?” He was confused and half asleep and didn’t appreciated the tone.

            “Yes, because you are going back to school in a few days and I have no idea when we’ll be seeing each other again.”

            “Probably when you and Isaac decide to visit Scott, no?” He provoked because, yeah, he was half asleep, but his brain was still working.

            “I forgot about my great love story that’s gonna survive generations and distance and the fact that it’s with two boys.”

            “It could be worse.” He said. “It could be three boys...”

            “Just get your ass here!” She said before hanging up the phone. She then texted him the address.

            He stood up and walked to the room on the other side of the hallway, knocking on the door.

            “Whaaaat?” He understood the word, even though he was sure neither Stiles nor Scott said it completely.

            “Out. Allison. Breakfast. Hate her.” He said because it was so early and he really wanted to go back to sleep, but also because they wouldn’t understand any more information anyway.

            “’Kay.” They both yelled, but what Dexter really understood was “shut up” and he was okay with that. He wanted the world to shut up too. It was so early.

            He dragged himself back to the room and changed his clothes. He went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth and threw some water into his face for him to maybe look alive. What he really needed was coffee and he was happy to find it downstairs.

            “Did the bed break or something?” The Sheriff said and as much as Dexter wanted to feel embarrassed by that, he didn’t. What’s the point of holiday breaks if you won’t sleep everything you didn’t in the months before?

            “No, but Allison called. She needs new friends.” He said filling a mug with the sweet dark liquid and praying that would be enough for him to feel better.

            It wasn’t.

            “And you’re gonna help her get new friends?”

            “I would be terrible doing that, I can barely make friends myself. Stiles and Scott are probably out of pity, because for the first two months every conversation the three of us had was the two of them saying the craziest stuff and me thinking what was going on.”

            “They tend to do that when they are overly excited.” Melissa said with her own cup of coffee.

            “Which happens a lot more than my mind process.” The man confessed and she smiled at him.

            That took Dexter back to all those years ago, when his mother was around and he and his father were actually a family. The complicity and clear love of the two people in front of him warmed him inside much more than the coffee ever could. He had to leave.

            “Thanks for the coffee, it literally saved my life.” He said standing up. “And thank you for having me, Scott and Stiles are very lucky to have you two.”

            “It was our pleasure.” The Sheriff said.

            “Also, know that you have an open invitation, whenever you want to visit, we’ll be happy to have you.”

            “That’s... awesome.” He nodded, not sure what to say. “Bye.”

            While he entered his car, he was sure that wasn’t the best thing to say. Maybe a thank you would be better? It was just hard for him being around the Sheriff after the things he’s done with his son. The fact that the man probably knows about it made him half scared to death. At least he was awake now.

            He found the place quite easily, remembering that he actually had been there before. When he crossed the doors and found not only Allison there, but Lydia too, he knew it was a trap.

            “So you weren’t missing me that much.” He said before sitting across from the girls.

            “I was, but that’s also an intervention.” She announced.

            “Of course it’s. And whose idea was that? Lydia’s? You barely know me.”

            “But I give great advice.” She said. “You should consider yourself lucky I care as much to being here.”

            “For what? Why am I having an intervention?”

            “Because I had an interesting talk with Isaac last night.” Allison said.

            “About me? Am I really what you guys talk about after sex?”

            “We were not hav... Oh, shut up, Dex, just listen. You like Stiles, yes or no?”

            “Yes, he is my friend and...”

            “Not the friend bullshit.” Lydia stopped him, no patience for his crap. “It’s early and I still have to go see if the boat house is ready, so just talk so we can get out of here. You are coming early to help, also.”

            “Why?”

            “Because I’m here instead of there because of your emotionally constipated self.” She accused and Dexter finally understood what was going on.

            “Oh, of course, this is brilliant, the love life of you two are a mess, so you decided to take care of mine. That’s why I am here? There’s nothing to take care of, I’m fine, Stiles is fine and...”

            “And that’s where you are wrong.” Allison stopped him. “And we are gonna talk about you calling out my love life later.”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “What are your intentions with Stiles?”

            “My... intentions? Is this for real, you guys barely know him.”

            “Scott do.” Allison said. “And he is worried you are gonna break his friend’s heart. And I’m afraid you think you have to.”

            “This is getting too trip for me and I certainly don’t have enough coffee for this conversation, so please make sense on what you are saying for this to end.”

            “We are not the ones who have to make sense on things, you are!” Lydia explained. “You liked Stiles even before you guys hook up, Stiles likes you because he got mad drunk before Christmas just to get your attention, but you still haven’t figure out what you are gonna do in three days when you leave.”

            “And why can’t I figure that out in three days?”

            “You just said we don’t know anything about Stiles, but you do. Did he ever seemed to you like the kind of guy to play by ear?”

            Dexter stared at the table because he knew the two girls were right. Damn, he hasn’t thought of that.

            “Well, I get it now. I’m screwed.” He said shaking his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have done it, it was so stupid and now what do I tell Stiles? That I suck at relationships?”

            “You never had a relationship.” Allison corrected him.

            “Exactly.”

            “Then you don’t have enough data to believe you would suck at it.” Lydia said so rationally it hurt.

            “But I can guess? There’s a reason I never had one. I’m quite selfish, I wasn’t even thinking about how Stiles is probably freaking out because he does it with everything.”

            “Now that you are thinking about him, do you know what you want?” Allison asked.

            “No.” He replied. “I don’t know, maybe? This is so frustrating, I was happy, you know? Like, twenty minutes ago, before this conversation, I was happy with a great guy that’s actually also my friend, making new friends too,” he pointed at Lydia, “reconnecting with old ones that I really missed. I had an amazing Christmas with people that actually care about me and now what? I’m freaking out because that’s probably stopping right now. There’s just no way I’m not ruining this thing with Stiles and then Scott’ll hate me and you’ll hate me too because that’s what couples or... groups with three people do...”

            “You are putting a lot of confidence in me, Scott and Isaac.”

            “That’s because I have seen you three together and I have seen you three apart - at least you and Scott - and I can see in which case you seem the happiest.”

            “Well, we do too.” Allison said. “At least I do. Dexter, that day Stiles was drunk and blacked out on the couch, you spent the whole night making sure he was okay. You didn’t even let Isaac put makeup on him.”

            “It wasn’t fair, I was the one that gave the idea for us to drink that day.”

            “You say you are selfish and, usually, I would agree with you, but I don’t think you are with Stiles, not all the time. And yes, things can go wrong. You can break his heart, but he could also break yours, and I think you are scared about both of those cases. But you like him and that can be a fling or can be it, but if you keep hiding and pretending you don’t know what’s going on, you won’t never know. And you deserve more than that.”

            Dexter wasn’t sure if Allison was right or not, but what she said was still very important for him to hear. He felt selfish and maybe that’s because of all the frustrations and disappointments he had before, but the thing was, he didn’t want that for his life. That was bigger than Stiles for him at that point. He saw a man destroying every relationship he had because of the pain he could never get over. He saw his father push him away further than he could ever return. And maybe that was a chance to show himself he was not his father.

            He got to Stiles’ house and didn’t find him in his room. He was doing laundry, the bag of clothes he had been ignoring all those days at this side.

            “Well, that would have to happen at some point.” He said approaching Stiles.

            “Yeah, they were getting smelly.” He frowned because that was a little disgusting.

            “Maybe you should put them in there twice.”

            “I’ll.” Stiles said looking hard at Dexter. “What happened?”

            “We need to talk. About us, about this.”

            “The clothes?”

            “Yeah, the clothes. But also us.” Dexter took a deep breath before continuing. “I’ve never done this. This talk after the sex and the having fun because I think every time it was kind of implicit that would be it. However, with you, it feels more than that. Maybe is because I have met you before this, because I really care about you as a person. It’s hard to make this things up in my mind. You’ll have to be a little patient with me in that aspect.”

            “I’m not really the most patient person.”

            “I know.” Dexter nodded. “That’s why I find this so hard, because in every other situation I would find this conversation one week after we hook up so exaggerated. But the problem is that, with us, it’s kind of necessary. We share the same tiny little room and we spend most of our time together. You are one of the few people I care about, but the thing is I don’t know if I trust that, because everybody else is gone. And that’s unfair, and that’s misplaced, but it’s still how I feel.”

            “I can’t promise to be there forever, Dex. I don’t know what’s gonna happen tomorrow or in a few months. I can’t be, like, the only one, that doesn’t work.”

            “I know, I don’t want that. I just understood that I have some stuff to work out. And I’m trying to figure out a way of doing that without losing you. And I think maybe a good idea would be if we changed roommates. You could live with Scott and I would live with Jackson and because we chose it, the administration wouldn’t mind, I’m sure.”

            “And then what?”

            “Then we try it. We date. And if it sucks, it sucks, and if it works, it works. And while doing that, I would work on myself, on letting people in, on trusting people. Therapy may help me with that.”

            “Maybe don’t talk about me too much in therapy, because shrinks love me.” Stiles said with a smile. “I speak five words and they have an entire study case on me.”

            “I really feel I would be a better study case. Also, my father is famous, so there’s that aspect to help.”

            “You father is not that famous, book authors are not that famous.”

            “Tell that to Stephen King.”

            “I would if I ever remember his face.”

            “I have a picture with him if you want to remember.”

            “Of course you have. Of course you have. And this changing roommate thing, we need to adjust something.”

            “What?”

            “It’s gonna be you and Scott and me and...” It was hard for him to say it because he really hated it. “Me and Jackson.”

            “Why?”

            “Because I don’t think therapy is gonna fix you as much as living with Scott will. If you don’t trust and love that guy after five months, you’ll never do it with anyone.” 


End file.
